JPH0846742A - Automatic document feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the automatic document feeder in which production of jamming or the like is prevented in the case of feeding an document without degrading of read quality and not requiring a large sized image reader. CONSTITUTION:A removable window frame 20 is fitted to a main body of the automatic document feeder. A guide member 22 guiding a document to an image read position specified buy a window 21 and a guide member 25 surely picking up a tip of the document whose image is read are formed to the window frame 20 and a transparent film 30 is stretched to the guide members 22, 25 and the window 21. Through the constitution of employing the window frame having the transparent sheet as above, production of jamming or the like is prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder which is attached to an image reading device such as a copying machine and conveys a document to an image reading position of the image reading device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image reading apparatus has a scanner (reading head) for reading an image fixed, a document is conveyed to that portion to read the image, and the position of the document is fixed and the scanner is moved. There is a format to read the image.
In the case of the former format, it is necessary to convey the document to the image reading position and to provide the image reading device with a device for sending out the document.
The one disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 155463 is known.

In this publication, a guide is provided on the contact glass, a transparent film is interposed between the contact glass and the guide, and the transparent film is guided to the paper discharge path. Although it discloses that it is possible to reliably pick up and prevent the occurrence of jams etc.,
In such a structure, the problem that the film is scratched and the reading quality is deteriorated is pointed out.

In order to solve this problem, the invention disclosed in this publication is configured such that the original is reliably guided to the image reading section and sent out to the discharge guide plate without using the above-mentioned film. Has been done. That is, a plate member is pressed against the document conveying roller to form an elastic pinch portion, the document is guided from this pinch part to the image reading portion of the contact glass, and a groove is cut in the contact glass to embed the inclined frame. With this, the image is read, and the document is reliably picked up and guided to the discharge guide plate.

[0005]

The automatic document feeder disclosed in the above publication prevents the occurrence of jams and the like during document feeding and prevents the deterioration of reading quality, but has the following problems. . As described above, the contact glass is embedded with the inclined top that reliably picks up the document and guides it to the discharge guide plate, so that the strength of the contact glass decreases. Also, because of this tilted frame, it is not possible to move the scanner to read the image, and in order to have such a structure, it is necessary to place the scanner in a portion where there is no tilted frame. The reading device becomes large.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic document feeder which prevents jamming and the like during document feeding, does not deteriorate reading quality, and does not increase the size of the image reading apparatus. .

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an automatic document feeder of the present invention is attached to an image reading device, and a document feeding means for feeding a document to an image reading section and an image are read. An original document conveying unit for conveying an original document, and a window unit arranged so as to correspond to the image reading unit; and an upstream guide unit for guiding the original document from the original document feeding unit to the window unit, A window frame body provided with a downstream guide means for guiding a document to the document conveying means and a transparent sheet arranged in the window section and facing the image reading section is detachably provided to the frame. Is characterized by.

[0008]

The document from which the image is read moves on the image reading section of the image reading apparatus through the transparent sheet arranged on the window of the window frame. The transparent sheet guides the original document to the image reading section and also reliably picks up the leading edge of the original document from which the image is read. Since the window frame is detachably attached to the frame of the automatic document feeder, when the transparent sheet becomes dirty or damaged, the window frame is removed from the frame and the transparent sheet is replaced and cleaned.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an automatic document feeder according to the present invention. The automatic document feeder 1 is attached to the image reading device 100, and is rotatable about the support shaft 2 on the contact glass 101 in the arrow direction. A detachable hopper 4 is attached inside the automatic document feeder, and documents D are stacked and placed on a pressing plate 5 of the hopper 4. The document D is biased to the pickup roller 6 by a biasing spring that biases the pressing plate 5. By driving the pickup roller 6, the stacked documents D are separated by the friction separation pad 7.
It is separated into one via. The manuscript separated into one is
The document is fed to the image reading position P of the image reading apparatus 100 by the document feeding means.

The document feeding means is composed of a guide 9, a roller 10, a rib 12 and a conveying roller 14 arranged on the downstream side of the hopper 4.
And a pinch roller 15 that abuts on it. The document guided by the document feeding means is guided to the window frame 20 detachably attached to the frame 1a of the automatic document feeder 1. The configuration of the document feeding means and the window frame 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

As shown in the figure, a plurality of ribs 12 for guiding the original are arranged at a predetermined interval in a direction orthogonal to the original conveying direction, and every other two ribs 12 are provided for the pinch roller 15.
Are arranged. The pinch roller 15 is supported so as to be sandwiched between the tip ends of a pair of bent legs 16a of the roller support 16 attached to the frame 1a.
The roller support 16 is made of, for example, a stainless steel thin plate, and the pinch roller 15 is formed by elasticity of the legs.
The transport roller 14 rotatably supported on the frame 1a
Is pressed against.

A window portion 21 is formed on the window frame 20 so as to correspond to the image reading position P. The window portion 21 is formed.
The reading head 102 located below the contact glass via the scanning unit scans the document being sent. In addition, the window frame 2
0, a guide member 22 that is an upstream guide means that is erected so as to incline forward so as to guide the document to the window portion 21, a transporting roller that will be described later for the scanned document, and A guide member 25, which is a downstream guide means, is formed so as to be inclined rearward so as to guide it to the abutting pinch roller.

The guide member 22 includes an inclined plate 22a,
It is constituted by a plurality of rib-shaped members 22b having inclined surfaces flush with this, and the rib-shaped members 22b extend so as to sandwich the plurality of ribs 12 and the pinch roller 15. In addition, the guide member 25 includes the inclined plate 25a.
And a plurality of rib-shaped members 22 having inclined surfaces flush with the rib-shaped members 22.
b. A transparent film (sheet) 30 made of, for example, polyester is attached to the window frame body 20 formed in this manner so as to cover the guide members 22 and 25 and the window portion 21.

The transparent film 30 sends the conveyed original document to the image reading position P so as not to cause a jam and surely picks up the leading end of the original document whose image is read at this position. In the configuration shown in FIG. 2, since the plurality of rib-shaped members 22b extend between the plurality of ribs 12, the transparent film 30 and the rib 12 have the ends of the original guide surfaces of the transparent film 30 and the rib 12, respectively, of the other original guide surface. To be located below
It is configured to overlap. That is,
The original is conveyed from the surface 12a of the rib 12 to the surface of the transparent film 30 without being caught, and the original is switched back to move from the surface of the transparent film 30 to the rib 12.
When it moves to the surface 12a of the rib 12, it moves without hitting the surface 12a of the rib 12. That is, a jam or the like does not occur at this position. As a specific configuration, a U-shaped cut 30a is formed at the end of the transparent film 30, and the end of the surface 12a of the rib 12 and the end of the surface of the transparent film 30 are respectively formed of the transparent film 30. Below the end surface and the surface 1 of the rib 12
It is configured to be located below 2a.

The structure of the window frame body 20 thus constructed is shown in FIG. This figure shows a plan view of the window frame 20 removed from the frame 1a of the automatic document feeder, and the transparent film 30 has an end portion corresponding to the plurality of ribs 12 as described above. A U-shaped cut 30a,
A wide U-shaped cut 30b is formed so that the pinch roller 15 is located. Further, an engaging convex portion 35 which is a locking means is formed at an appropriate position of the window frame body 20, and the window frame body 20 is provided from the lower side of the automatic document feeder as shown in FIG. It is adapted to be locked and attached to the engaging recess 40 formed in the frame 1a.

The frame 1a has a holding guide 45 so as to face the transparent film 30 when the window frame 20 is attached, and a document passes between the frame 1a and the transparent film 30. Define the gap. Further, the frame 1a is provided with a conveyance roller 48 which is located on the downstream side of the guide member 25 to which the transparent film 30 is attached and which conveys a scanned document, and a pinch roller 50 which is urged to abut against the conveyance roller 48. It is supported. A discharge roller 55 is arranged on the downstream side of these roller pairs,
The read document is discharged onto the stacker 57.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. The window frame body 20 to which the transparent film 30 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is attached is attached to the automatic document feeder 1 from below as shown in FIG. The document D stacked and stored in the hopper 4 is separated into one sheet by the drive of the pickup roller 6 and the friction separation pad 7, and the guide 9 and the roller 1 are separated.
It is guided to the abutting portion of the transport roller 14 and the pinch roller 15 via the 0 and the rib 12. With the configuration shown in FIG. 2, the original separated into one sheet moves from the rib 12 to the guide member 22 to which the transparent film 30 is attached without jamming. Then, the document is sent to the image reading position P by driving the conveying roller 14. Image reading device 1
The reading head 102 reads the image of the original through the window 21 and the transparent film 30 by the reading head 102, and performs a predetermined process such as copying on a sheet. In this case, even if the document is switched back, the trailing edge of the sheet does not hit the surface 12a of the rib 12 due to the configuration shown in FIG. The document from which the image has been read is reliably picked up by the guide member 25 to which the transparent film 30 is attached at its leading end and conveyed. Then, it is further transported by the transport roller 48 and the pinch roller 50, and is discharged to the stacker 57 via the paper discharge roller 55.

In the above structure, the transport rollers 14 and 48
In the meantime, the document is stably conveyed by the pressing guide 45 and the transparent film 30 without causing a jam or the like. Further, since the window frame body 20 can be easily removed from the automatic document feeder, when the transparent film 30 is soiled, the transparent film can be easily cleaned and replaced, and the deterioration of the reading quality can be prevented. You can Further, since the leading end of the document is reliably picked up by the guide member 25 to which the transparent film 30 is attached, it is not necessary to embed the inclined frame in the contact glass 101, and the strength of the contact glass does not decrease. Absent. Further, since it is not necessary to provide such a tilted frame, the length of the contact glass can be shortened and the size of the image reading apparatus can be reduced when the moving / fixed original reading mode is provided. .

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the guide member 22 is shown in FIG.
The inclined plate 22 terminated downstream of the transport roller 14 and the pinch roller 15 without having the rib-shaped member 22b shown in FIG.
It is composed of only a. Even in the configuration of this embodiment, the document is transported by the feeding action of the transport roller 14 and the pinch roller 15 without jamming. Further, the structure of the guide member 22 as the upstream guide means and the shape of the transparent sheet 30 attached thereto can be further simplified. Further, with such a configuration, the window frame body 20 can be slid and attached from the width direction of the automatic document feeder 1. Furthermore,
The pinch roller 15 that is urged to abut the conveyance roller 14
It is also possible to reduce the number of parts and simplify the structure.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but can be variously modified as described below. The overall configuration of the automatic document feeder 1 is merely an example, and the configurations and positions of the hopper 4 and the stacker 57 can be variously modified, and the document is fed by hand. May be In addition, transparent film 3
0 is most preferably attached so as to cover the entire surface of the guide member 22, the window portion 21, and the guide member 25 so that they are flush with each other, but in order to facilitate replacement and cleaning work,
The window 21 and the guide members 22 and 25 may be partially covered, or only the window 21 may be covered. In this case, it is preferable that the transparent film is attached so that no step is formed in the original feeding direction.

[0021]

As described above, according to the automatic document feeder of the present invention, the use of the window frame having the transparent sheet prevents the occurrence of a jam or the like when feeding the document. Further, since the transparent sheet is detachable from the main body of the automatic document feeder, if the transparent sheet becomes dirty or damaged, it can be easily replaced and cleaned, and the deterioration of reading quality can be prevented. Furthermore, it is not necessary to provide an extra member on the contact glass of the image reading device, and the image reading device does not become large.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an automatic document feeder according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a window frame body in the automatic document feeder shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the configuration of a window frame body in the automatic document feeder shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which a window frame body is removed from the main body of the automatic document device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state in which a window frame body is removed from the main body of the automatic document device, showing another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Automatic document feeder, 9 ... Guide, 10 ... Conveying roller, 12 ... Rib, 14 ... Conveying roller, 15 ... Pinch roller, 20 ... Window frame body, 21 ... Window part, 22, 25 ... Guide member, 30 ... Transparent film (sheet), 35 ... engaging protrusion,
40 ... Engagement concave part, 45 ... Pressing guide, 48 ... Conveying roller, 50 ... Pinch roller, 100 ... Image reading device, 10
1 ... Contact glass, 102 ... Read head.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An automatic document feeder including: a document feeder attached to an image reading device to feed a document to an image reading portion; and a document feeding device for feeding a document on which an image has been read. A window portion arranged so as to correspond to the reading portion, an upstream guide means for guiding the original from the original feeding means to the window portion, a downstream guide means for guiding the original to the original conveying means, and the window portion. An automatic document feeder, which has a window frame body provided with a transparent sheet which is disposed in the opposite side of the sheet and faces the image reading section, and a locking unit which is detachable from the main body of the automatic document feeder. . 2. The document feeding means has a plurality of ribs for guiding a document, and the upstream guide means is a guide arranged so as to sandwich the plurality of ribs while the transparent sheet is attached. The guide member, which has a plurality of ribs and a transparent sheet, has ends of the respective document guide surfaces which are overlapped with each other when the window frame is attached to the main body of the automatic document feeder. The automatic document feeder according to claim 1, wherein each of the overlapped end portions is arranged so as to be positioned below the other document guide surface while being wrapped. 3. The original feeding means includes a pair of rollers for conveying the original, and a guide member for guiding the original to the roller pair, and the upstream guide means is covered with the transparent sheet, The automatic document feeder according to claim 1, further comprising a guide member for receiving the document conveyed by the pair.